Corn Snake

The corn snake is a medium-sized, non-venomous constrictor native to the southeastern and central United States, found in a range of habitats from woodland and farmland to abandoned buildings, where it hunts rodents and other small prey. It typically displays an orange to brownish-yellow body marked with a series of large, black-bordered reddish blotches running down its back, a pattern that led early settlers to name it for its resemblance to the kernels on a corn cob, or for its frequent presence in corn cribs hunting mice. An excellent climber and constrictor despite its modest size, it kills prey by coiling around it before swallowing it whole, and it is entirely harmless to humans, often mistaken for venomous species such as the copperhead due to superficial pattern similarities. Corn snakes are among the most commonly kept pet snakes in the world, prized for their calm temperament, manageable size and the huge range of color and pattern variations, called morphs, produced through selective breeding. In the wild, the species remains widespread and common across its native range, with no major conservation concerns.